


Remember

by mikkimouse



Series: Tumblr Fics [145]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Forgotten Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 22:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10728570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Stiles has vanished, and everyone's forgotten him....except Derek, who's the only one who can bring him back.





	Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emela/gifts).



> This is 100% from [this post](http://pale-silver-comb.tumblr.com/post/159917302957/random-reminder-that-i-remember-you). [@pale-silver-comb](http://pale-silver-comb.tumblr.com/), thank you for the original fic and for letting me continue it; [@fauvistfly](http://fauvistfly.tumblr.com/), thank you for the beta read.
> 
> If I'm missing any tags, please let me know.
> 
> Originally posted to Tumblr [here](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/post/159925569810/remember).

The thing is, werewolves have fairy tales, too. Different ones from what humans share, but fairy tales all the same. When you're a supernatural creature, finding your own magic stories is both easier and harder than it should be. 

Derek always thought mates were only fairy tales. 

The truth is, they were just so rare that they _should_ be.

***

It's been two months since Stiles vanished and everyone forgot. 

It's been six weeks since Derek learned he could send messages to that other land, could leave behind imprints in the dream world that he could only hope Stiles could see. 

It's been three weeks since Derek realized just what that meant. 

And it's been two days, seven hours, and thirty-six minutes since he found out how to bring Stiles back. 

***

_One week_ , said the moldy tome Derek dug up, the one that treated mates as more fact than fiction. _After the bond is formed, there is one week during which both parties must accept it._

_Rejection on either part will be fatal to the other_.

No mincing words there. 

It doesn't scare him, though. Derek figures he's died for far less. 

***

It takes him the better part of three days to outline exactly what he needs to do, to get together the few things he needs to complete the bond and cross over. He runs through the ritual three times to make sure he's doing it correctly, makes a checklist and triple-checks it twice a day. It's not that the ritual is terribly complex; it's just that Derek doesn't want to screw it up. At all. 

Stiles's life is on the line, and it's the only thing Derek refuses to take any chances with.  


***

Derek sits cross-legged on his floor with a red hoodie in front of him, one that Stiles left at his house God only knows how long ago at this point. He'd never been able to throw it away, and he's grateful for that now. It's probably not the best physical representation of Stiles, but it'll do, especially since he isn't sure he'll find anything in Beacon Hills if everyone else has forgotten. 

He pulls the hoodie into his lap and thinks of Stiles. Pictures his messy brown hair, grown out from that sophomore buzz cut, those sharp golden eyes that always see too much. Thinks of his pale skin and the moles that dot his jawline and the way his mouth never stops moving, even if he's not talking. He imagines Stiles's broad shoulders and long fingers and his unexpectedly deep voice. 

But most importantly, he imagines Stiles's scent, bright and sharp and warm. It's a summer day after a rainstorm, or a crackling bonfire on an autumn night. The smell that's meant _home_ for Derek for far longer than he wants to consider. 

He fists his hands in the hoodie and shifts into his beta shift, eyes and brows and claws. He holds the image of Stiles in his head—the way he's seen him in the dreams—and whispers the words he found in the book. 

"I claim my mate, the one who's written in the stars for me." Derek closes his eyes. "I claim my mate, whom the moon chose to match my heart. I claim my mate. He is mine. And no force shall separate us." 

He feels the world lurch; there's no other way to describe it. The smell of his loft changes to something mustier. When he opens his eyes, he's standing in the dark hallway he recognizes from the dreams. 

And there, sitting against the wall, head buried in his knees, is Stiles.

"Stiles!" Derek yells.

He expects this to be as it has been dozens of other nights, where Stiles doesn't hear or see him at all and all Derek can do is leave a message behind and pray. 

But Stiles jerks his head up and his golden eyes go wide, like he can't believe his ears. "Derek?" he whispers, so quietly Derek might not have heard it if he weren't a werewolf. 

Derek nods and steps forward. "I came to get you," he says, and it's a stupid thing to say because what _else_ would he be doing here?

Stiles scrambles to his feet and Derek can smell the way his scent spikes with fear and hope so sharply intertwined. "It's a dream," Stiles says, half to himself. "It's a dream, it's a dream..." 

Derek walks to him, slowly so as not to scare him off. "It's not a dream. Stiles, I remember you. I came for you. "

He smells salt and sees that Stiles's eyes glitter with unshed tears. It's the closest Derek has been able to get to him since he first started having these dreams. 

He reaches out, hesitant, and brushes his fingers over Stiles's shirt, right over his heart. His claws tug the fabric ever so slightly. 

Stiles's breath hitches, and he throws himself into Derek's arms. 

Derek catches him and pulls him close, holds him as tightly as he dares. "I remember you," he whispers into Stiles's ear, "and I'm here to take you home." 

Stiles clings to him and trembles.   


Derek closes his eyes, thinks _home_ , and falls backward. 

***

He lands on his bed with Stiles and it knocks the wind out of him. For a moment Derek lies on the bed and stares at the ceiling, hardly able to believe they're back. Hardly able to believe he's brought _Stiles_ back.

He can feel the bond thrumming in him, seeking its counterpoint, its acceptance, but he pushes it away for now. He just pets Stiles's hair and holds him, letting Stiles sob and shake in his arms. 

"You remembered me," Stiles says thickly. "You remembered, Derek, you—" 

"Of course I remembered," Derek says, his own voice rough. "Of course I remembered you. How could I forget you?" 

_You're my anchor. You're my mate. You're everything to me._

"How?" Stiles asks. "How did you do it? How did you bring me back?" 

Derek cards his hand through Stiles's hair. "It's a long story. It can wait." 

He doesn't think anything in his voice gives him away, but Stiles sits up, straddling Derek's waist, and pins him with that golden gaze. "What did you do, Derek? Oh my God, don't tell me you did something stupid and martyr-y again because I swear to all that's holy—" 

"I did what I had to do to get you back," Derek says evenly. "And I want you to understand that. I knew what I was getting into, and I did it with no regrets."

Stiles fists his shirt. "What are you talking about?" 

"You're my mate," Derek says. "That's...rare, among wolves. I thought it was only a legend. That bond...me accepting that bond, that's what let me come to you." 

His chest spasms, and Derek winces. 

"Derek." Stiles sounds...scared. "What's happening? What's it doing to you?" 

"It used my life force to form the bond," Derek explains. He doesn’t want to, but Stiles deserves the truth. He doesn't know how to say this in a way that Stiles won't hate him. 

Stiles blanches. "It's going to kill you, isn't it?" 

"It could," Derek admits. 

Stiles punches him in the shoulder. Really, it's a more minor reaction than Derek expected. "You...you... _how could you?_ You got out, you survived, and now you're going to die just because of me? Just because—" 

"You're worth it," Derek says. "I knew what it meant. I chose this with my eyes wide open. I couldn't leave you there, not when I had the power to bring you back." 

Stiles heaves a sob, and Derek feels two tears splatter on his shirt. "You asshole. You should've left me there. I'd rather stay there forever than come back and have you die because of me. I love you, you martyring dickhead, and I _don't want to lose you._ " 

Derek blinks. He...honestly hadn't considered that outcome. "You do?" 

" _Yes!_ " Stiles shouts. "I've been trapped in a hellhole for...God, I don't even know how long, but it was long enough to do some soul-searching and believe me, I searched the shit out of my soul and it's in love with you. I'm in love with you. And I'm so mad at you right now that I—" 

Derek sits up, cups the back of Stiles's head, and kisses the words right out of his mouth. 

Maybe it's stupid, maybe he should've asked, but then Stiles kisses him back, fiercely, his hands so tight in Derek's shirt that the fabric rips and Derek can't bring himself to care. He only cares for Stiles, his lips and teeth and scent and the warmth of his body pressing against Derek's, about the words _I love you_ falling into the scant space between them every time they pause to breathe. Derek doesn't even know which of them is saying it at this point. He doesn't think it matters. 

"I don't want you to die," Stiles whispers.

The bond in his heart sings. "I don't think I'm going to," Derek says.

Stiles frowns. "What?" 

"It's...some of the texts conflict, but it seems like if the bond is accepted on both ends, then there's no danger. It's just the rejection that—" 

Stiles lunges in and kisses him again. "Oh my God, I accept then, I accept _so hard_. I'll be your mate, you dumbass, and then maybe I can keep you from doing such _idiotic things,_ like throwing your _life_ away." 

Derek nods and runs his hands through Stiles's hair. "It wasn't throwing it away. It was exchanging it to bring you back. Stiles...I can't lose you, either."

Stiles drops his head to Derek's shoulder and shakes. "You remembered me, Derek. You remembered, and I was so scared no one would, but—" 

Derek kisses the side of his head and rubs his hands over Stiles's back, relishing how solid he feels, how good he smells, how _real_ he is. "I could never forget you," he says again, because it's true.  


Because Stiles has so deeply wound himself into Derek's life, against all odds, that to forget Stiles would be to forget a part of himself. Their hearts don't beat in sync, but in counterpart, melody and harmony, a perfect complementary rhythm. 

"I can't believe you thought I'd reject you," Stiles says. "How could I reject you?"  


"It's your choice," Derek says. "You can do whatever you want. You don't have to accept it."

"Well, tough shit," Stiles says, burying his face in Derek's neck. "I want to accept it. You remembered me, you brought me back, you're stuck with me."

"Oh no," Derek says dryly, even though his heart is soaring. He presses his nose to Stiles's temple and breathes deep. "However will I survive."

"You'll have to find a way," Stiles says. "Because you're not allowed to die. At least, you're not allowed to die in a self-sacrificing way because I'd rather have you by my side as long as possible." 

Derek can only nod into Stiles's shoulder. "And I'd rather be by your side as long as possible."

Stiles trembles against him, hunches into Derek's body and takes deep, shaky breaths like he needs the scent as much as Derek does. "I know you should probably take me home, but..." Stiles clutches at his shirt. "Please don't leave me alone now."

Derek shakes his head. "You can stay here tonight. We can talk to your dad tomorrow. We can figure everything else out tomorrow." 

"Okay," Stiles says. "Okay. Tomorrow." 

Derek lays them back down, and that's where Stiles falls asleep, right on top of him and still clinging to his shirt.

Tomorrow, there will be so much more to do. Tomorrow, they'll have to see if the others remember, or if Derek is still the only one.   


But tonight, Derek falls asleep under the weight of his mate.

And in the morning, he wakes with his mate still by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)!


End file.
